Displays

Window Managers for High Resolution Displays? 382

Posted by Cliff from the one-with-the-most-dots-WINS! dept.
cfish asks: "Recently, I was told by a manager at a major monitor maker that CRTs are phasing out. I have a very weak eye and I read text at 1024x768 on a 21" monitor, sitting 2 feet away. Each alphabet is about 1/4" tall. What makes me panic is the fact that LCDs have fixed resolution and they are simply too small for me to read icons and widget text, like Microsoft's. This is a great chance for Linux to get a head start in a certain market: older folks and those who have eye strain problems. Generally speaking, not many people can read Microsoft's widget text on a 150dpi display, which may explain why no one buys them even that they are available. Imagine how frustrating it could be for medical display (x-rays), cad, image editing to have a high resolution realistic image but cannot read the menu and text. If someone can come up with a Window manager to beat MS on 200dpi displays, no doubt this will capture a strong following in image related applications. I have read about these debates 5 years ago. What has been done about it?"
The Internet

Obtaining Archives of USENET? 86

Posted by Cliff from the dealing-with-the-red-tape dept.
Academic Researcher asks: "Google took over Deja and built the mammoth Google Groups, which is a near complete archive of USENET dating back to early 1980s. For an academic project, I need to analyse a lot of USENET data. The Terms of Service for Google Groups will not allow automated access (and even so, I'd have to write a bunch of tools and reverse engineer it all). Inquiries about purchasing copies of the archive have gone unanswered. No one else seems to have such an archive. Apart from this meaning that world has one single USENET archive (I hope they have backup floppies!), how can I obtain historical data for research purposes ? I'd happy pay money for DVD's of archival material if they were available. Can anyone help"
Security

Virus Scanners and Process Authentication for Windows? 23

Posted by Cliff from the improved-reliability-in-redmond-OSes dept.
cavedwler asks: "Like alot of people, for one reason or another, I still have Windows running on one of my PC's and have the standard virus scanner and wondered if that is enough. I ran across this site and found a program that seems to work well in conjunction with any virus scanner. It blocks any executable or script from running on your PC without your approval. It is not a virus scanner as it does not search for viruses but just does not allow them to run. It also has the ability to monitor files and restore them in real time if they have been modified. I have been running it for a while now and am thinking of recommend it to my boss for use at work. I was wondering if anyone else out there had tried this, or other programs similar to it, in a real world environment and had any problems or successes."
Programming

Programming Warm Ups? 84

Posted by Cliff from the pre-coding-preparations dept.
ResHippie asks: "No athlete or musician would think about just diving in to the day's activity without doing some series of warm ups first. Aside from starting most computing sessions with checking email and the like, I pretty much try to dive right in to the task at hand. It usually takes me a while to get going, though. Does anyone have any routines they go through before coding (or any other work-like activity) that helps?"
Windows

A Linux Admin's Guide to Windows? 86

Posted by Cliff from the stranger-in-a-strange-land dept.
Rexburg asks: "I recently took a job managing an all Windows network. While my knowledge of the OS is enough to perform the functions of my job, I want to have my bases covered. Naturally, I began the hunt for documentation, but all I can find are books to help Windows users/admins understand and use Linux. I need the opposite. Can the Slashdot crowd point a fellow OSS-head in the right direction?"
Portables

Laptops for Warm Climates? 67

Posted by Cliff from the where-it's-100-degrees-in-the-shade! dept.
macrostiff asks: "Where might one locate a product comparison for laptops and notebooks that includes environmental specifications? Why do I want this? Well, I'm on my second notebook that will not work outside of a climate controlled environment. In the real world, one often encounters temperatures above 35 degrees celcius. I've been through two notebooks for which this was the specified operational limit, which was not published, and the manufacturer or dealer led me astray until there were problems. In particular, I am looking for a notebook with 900MHz or faster CPU (fast enough to play DVD's) which will work under full CPU utilization at 40 degrees celcius (104F) and 90% relative humidity. While a bit extreme at the limit, 35-38 degrees and 80% relative humidity is not uncommon for those of us who work in areas with no air conditioning. Oh yes, it must run Linux!"
The Almighty Buck

Why Outsource When Workers are Willing to Telecommute? 874

Posted by Cliff from the is-cheaper-code-always-better? dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "Corporations and management resisted telecommuting for years, now jobs flow to distant nations. Did telecommuting become acceptable because of the greater distance? Because some form of on-site management persists? Because labor laws are favorable? Because a well paid middle class is a political threat? Is it really as simple as money? I'll work cheaper if I can choose where I live and work. Must I leave my country to do so?"
Sci-Fi

Antimatter and Antistars? 156

Posted by Cliff from the a-what-if-excercise-for-the-astrophysicists-out-there dept.
payndz asks: "I'm currently writing an SF novel, and came up with a weird thought for a piece of background flavour that, if there's any scientific basis for it, might get expanded into a larger element. The most up-to-date theories for the creation of the universe 13.7 billion years ago (give or take...) suggest that at the Big Bang, matter *and* antimatter were created. Over time, the fact that there was slightly more matter than antimatter means that mutual annihilation has left a universe of matter. (I'm not going to open up the whole can of 'dark matter' worms, unless somebody wants to...). I have a 'what if' question, which since Hubert Farnsworth isn't around I thought would get some good responses here: what if, rather than antimatter being annihilated by matter in the universe at large, there are 'clumps' of both matter and antimatter making up the universe? Since our clump is almost entirely matter, billions of LY away could there be galaxies made up of antimatter?More to the point, what physical properties would these galaxies have? Would a star made of antimatter function in the same way as a matter star, and would its emissions be made of antiparticles? Can you have anti-photons, and if you could, what impact would they have on any matter they illuminated? Could life evolve in an antimatter environment?"
Space

Writing a Linux Device Driver on Company Time? 65

Posted by Cliff from the how-hard-is-it...really dept.
DriverSubversion asks: "Excuse the anonymity: I'm covering my back and that of my company. My company makes some USB and PCI peripherals, currently only supported under Windows. Several of us have pointed out that there is a large cross-over between the people who buy these things and the people who run linux - and thus it's in the company's best interest to develop device drivers for Linux,as well as Windows. Now while our boss is kind of convinced that this might sell some more units, he understandably wants to know how much it will cost to write and maintain the drivers... and where better to ask than here? So has anyone else gone though this? On scale of 1-10, how hard is it, (1 being 'extremely easy, 2 programmers could do it' and 10 is 'a team of no less than 20 programmers, lawyers and salesmen'). Keep in mind that our intent is to keep the code up-to-date, GPL-compliant and in at least some major distributions."
Apache

Implementing True WebDAV Homedirs? 47

Posted by Cliff from the my-$HOME-is-on-the-d.a.v dept.
Vito asks: "I'd like to use WebDAV over SSL (with [preferably digest] authentication against Unix accounts) to provide a few hundred Windows users with secure, easy, and free access to their Linux home directories. WebDAV is supported as Web Folders in Windows, meaning there is no need to download and install SFTP, SCP, FTPS, and other clients. It's also supported natively in Mac OS X, and Linux users can install davfs. But this setup doesn't seem to be possible (safely) using Apache. Do I have alternatives?"
Education

Online Scientific Information Portals? 12

Posted by Cliff from the oracles-of-arcane-knowledge dept.
Knacklappen asks: "On August 5th, vascoda, Germany's new central access point for comprehensive scientific information, goes online. It will incorporate 23 virtual libraries and 4 scientific information networks, and offer these information for free. For the paying customer, there will also be access to electronic journals. What freely accessible scientific information portals do you use? I usually turn to the following when searching for articles: arxiv.org, AVEL, CiteSeer, dissonline.de, DOE Information Bridge, DSpace, ETD, NDLTD, OAIster, OPUS, TheO. Are there any others that you can recommend?"
Entertainment

Occupying Your Freetime on a Business Trip? 73

Posted by Cliff from the social-butterfly-in-new-surroundings dept.
Eric asks: "I just learned that my employer is sending me on a project abroad, in a medium size city for 3 months, starting early August. This will be a 12-hour flight from home and I have friends just an 8-hour drive from there. This is not the first time I am being sent on a remote location, but it used to be short trips (one week, typically), so I didn't have time to get really bored. What do you do while on a long business trip? how do you meet people when you cannot use your network of friends and don't have months to waste on building a new network?"
Technology

Will Humanoid Robots Take All the Jobs by 2050? 1457

Posted by michael from the metal-man dept.
Anonymous writes "Marshall Brain (the guy who started HowStuffWorks) has published an article claiming that robots will take half the jobs in the U.S. by 2050. Some of his predictions: real computer vision systems by 2020, computers with the CPU power and memory of the human brain by 2040, completely robotic fast food restaurants in 2030 (which then unemploy 3.5 million people), etc. It's a pretty astounding article. My question: How many people on /. think he is right (or even close - let's say he's off by 10 or 20 years)? Or is he full of it?"

Russian Minister Gets Spammed, Spams Back 406

Posted by simoniker from the in-soviet-russia-you-insert-punchline dept.
elhim writes "According to an article in the Moscow Times: 'Spammers last week got on the wrong side of the wrong man, and quickly found themselves with a taste of their own medicine. The man? Deputy Communications Minister Andrei Korotkov. Tired of the endless spate of unsolicited messages that clog e-mail systems everywhere, [Korotkov and others devised] ...an audio message to be volleyed nonstop to the telephone numbers listed in the... [email] spam messages.' Sometimes Russia reminds me of the Wild West."
United States

A Geek's Tour Of North America? 1335

Posted by timothy from the you-better-write-a-book-afterward dept.
PlanetThoughtful writes "Later this year I'm taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to backpack around the U.S. and Canada (Sept 2003 to whenever I have to come home again). Being a lifelong Australian geek (think of Steve Irwin and then stop, because I'm nothing like that and neither is anyone else, Steve Irwin included) I'm desperately curious: what would make it to the travel itinerary of Slashdot's all-time geek-tour of North America? Think electronics, architecture, astronomy, enlightenment! Think gadgets, bookstores, software, comics, The Library Of Congress, The Smithsonian, Wanting To See Really Amazing Things! Think travelling on a budget, then forget about that if it's a 'You Must See This Before You Die' sort of suggestion. And then stop thinking about these things, and actually tell me!"

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